Tropicana plant upgrade will allow it to use, buy more methane gas from St. Lucie landfill

ST. LUCIE COUNTY — The county and Port St. Lucie could generate an additional $700,000 annually from selling methane gas to Tropicana Products, officials announced Friday.

Tropicana Products plans to pump $5 million into its Fort Pierce facility to turn the gas into electricity. Tropicana expects to use all of the power on site, but there will be the capability to send excess power to Florida Power & Light Co., Tropicana Government Affairs Director Steve Lezman said according to an email to Scripps Treasure Coast Newspapers.

The upgrades should be finished by the end of 2012.

"We are proud of our almost 40-year commitment to the St. Lucie County community," Tropicana Vice President of Operations Michael Haycock said in a news release. "The county's partnership to improve the collection and productive use of landfill gas aligns perfectly with Tropicana's commitment to the environment through the increased use of renewable fuels."

The county invested about $1 million in 2004 to collect methane gas, which naturally comes off the landfill. As of 17 months ago, the county made enough money from sales to recoup its investment. Port St. Lucie and St. Lucie County officials reached a deal in December to share future revenues from the investment based on how much trash each group contributes to the landfill.

The city and county are expected to get more than $300,000 apiece from the Tropicana agreement on top of the more than $1 million they split from gas and other products sold from the landfill, such as cardboard, County Solid Waste Director Ron Roberts said.

The city's general fund budget is about $60 million, City Manager Jerry Bentrott said.

"Any additional revenue is going to help," he said. "It's a small portion, but lots of small portions make a difference."

The actual amount will fluctuate based on the price of natural gas. The county uses that price for billing.

The county produces more gas than it can sell, so the excess gas is burned. Now the county can profit from the gas.

"You won't see any money burning in the air anymore," Roberts said. "Dollars won't be flaring up. I don't like seeing that flare going because I know it's money."

For Tropicana, the $5 million investment is in addition to the $60 million capital investment announced in October. The $5 million will go toward building a new system to produce electricity.

Tropicana has purchased methane gas from the county since 2005, but did not have the capability of using all of the gas.

Negotiations have been ongoing for about a year, Roberts said.

By producing power from the methane gas, Tropicana estimates the new power will eliminate the equivalent of 2,000 cars from the roads, according to a news release from Tropicana. The improvements would produce enough electricity to power about 1,100 homes, Lezman said.

"When you talk about greenhouse gases, one pound of methane is equal to 25 pounds of carbon dioxide," County Commission Chairman Chris Craft said. "So by us capturing that, preventing it from just venting into the atmosphere, we're saving that much of the ozone through that process.

"(The methane) has to be burned one way or another, so why not burn it in a turbine to create electricity."